?That Was Off the Table?: Unable to Afford Lakers Games, Matt Damon Had to Settle With Michael Jordan and Had No Regret About It

Ben Affleck starrer “Air” was recently screened at SXSW and received a standing ovation in response. Based on the iconic deal between Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan and Nike, the sports drama is all set to hit the screens on April 5. As the promotion of the movie continue in full swing, fans became privy to several of the star cast’s childhood stories and sports-related incidents. For instance, actor/producer Matt Damon recently shared a decades-old family tradition related to His Airness.

The contract between MJ and Nike took place during his rookie year but there was nothing easy about the deal. When he was drafted into the league, Jordan had his sights set on Adidas. However, the billion-dollar company never offered a sponsorship to the Chicago Bulls legend and he eventually went with Nike. Back at the time, Nike was considered an average brand compared to the other big fishes in the pond – Adidas and Converse. Nevertheless, the deal pulled through and the rest is history.

Matt Damon takes a trip down memory lane

Matt Damon recently went Sneaker Shopping with co-actors Ben Affleck and Chris Tucker. During the interview with Jo La Puma of Complex, the trio opened up about their thoughts on Michael Jordan and his shoe brand. As their conversation progressed, the host inquired from Damon if it really was true that he would only get to go to one NBA game per year as a kid.

“The Martian” actor confirmed the fact and said, “Yeah, my dad had a line on tickets and so he’d let my brother and I go pick one game and we obviously couldn’t pick the Lakers. We lived in Boston.”

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Damon is a huge Celtics fan and given the rivalry between his home team and the Lakers, the Golden Globe winner shared that they could never pick the Lakers tickets. However, there was one matchup they would always go to every year.

He continued, “The Lakers game, that was off the table so we couldn’t get those tickets. But what we always did was we chose the Michael Jordan whenever Jordan was coming to town.”

Why is Michael Jordan not in the “Air” movie?

There is probably one question that is swirling in fans’ minds. Why did Ben Affleck choose to exclude Michael Jordan from the movie that was partly inspired by him? Well, the “Good Will Hunting” actor has a pretty good reason for it and the viewers might just thank him for it.

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When asked about his decision to not include His Airness, Affleck replied, “The whole reason why he represents and means what he does in terms of greatness and excellence, is because he?s?so enigmatic and majestic and identifiable immediately, by his carriage and demeanor and what we?ve seen him do physically..”

In short, the actor/director didn’t want to cast another actor to play MJ and diffuse the charismatic charm he possessed.